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BassmanPaul

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Everything posted by BassmanPaul

  1. Sub woofers are more aimed a PA use. Their job is to reproduce low frequency content from a PA source. They do NOT make good amplifiers for bass guitar. A lot of your harmonics would be lost so too the timbre of your instrument. You're no where near the first to have this idea, not even close. If it was such a good idea don't you think that more players would br doing so??
  2. I have just learned that I lost another musician friend. Tony Priestly played guitar in Liverpool's Earl Preston's Reflections and in the Realms earlier than that. He passed away after a battle with Cancer. When the band broke up Tony left Liverpool and came to Toronto. After an economic down turn my family followed. To get through that first winter I took a job servicing high end stereo equipment on Yonge Street. My Engineering qualifications were deemed of no value unless I went back to school for two years. Looking in the Telephone Directory I found Tony and renewed our friendship. He made the suggestion that I enter the Drafting field and gave me a contact number. I followed the suggestion and was shortly working as a contract draftsman for Ontario's electricity generating and distribution system Ontario Hydro. Truthfully I didn't even know what pencil to use!! LOL A couple of years later I was invited to join the Hydro staff. This set me up with paid vacation, a pension and a wonderful benefit package. Essentially we were set up for life. Thank you Tony and rest in peace my friend. I'll certainly miss you.
  3. In my mind a year is nothing compared to a life time of playing. You never know what tomorrow will bring. You sell your stuff and possibly you might be in a position where you need it again.
  4. That just makes the box bigger for no real gain over tilting the whole box.
  5. I fully understand my friend. I don't play out any more so am slowly divesting myself of my :stuff.' I did have a pretty sweet offer but the thought of having to load in my gear, play to two or three in the morning, load out all in bars/clubs downtown Toronto left me cold. So I passed on the offer. A year ago I would have jumped right in. Stay safe.
  6. Another thought is how old is the combo? Does it have a fan? Maybe the cooling path is clogged and the amp needs to be vacuumed out to remove any dust and other crud.
  7. I'm sorry that no one has replied to your post. Could it be that you were too loud for a pair of tens to handle? As you get louder the speakers have more work to do. it is also possible that the amp itself was struggling and getting overly hot whist doing so. If your amp has a socket for an external speaker cabinet perhaps adding another pair of tens might help the situation.. Worst case take the amp to an amp doctor for a heck up.
  8. What I call my small PA resides in a a 4U SKB rack case. It holds a power bar, a 1000W capable Class D power amp and an in ear monitor system. I have five receivers that work with it. The 12 channel Mackie mixer has it's own bag and sits atop the rack case in use. My big PA lives in an SKB box with removable lid, front and back panels. It holds a four channel Class D 500W per channel power am for monitors, a 3KW capable Class D power amp for Mains, a power bar for distributing AC power and a 16 channel Mackie mixer that sits under the lid. Edit: I did afix wheels on each corner of the base so I just have to trundle it into place. I did have other cases but they have gone to new homes.
  9. The Brothers have told us about how cold it is there. meanwhile we are still waiting for winter!!! We've had one decent snowfall but that didn't stick round for long. We didn't have to shovel any of it! Currently it's 9 Celsius here going up to 17C by mid week. I had forgotten that the UK puts a water tank in the attic. I guess to allow gravity to move the water through the pipes. Over here the water is supplied under pressure so no holding tanks are required. Keep us all informed about progress.
  10. I use rack cases 'cos they are very good protection during transport. I've cut down on what I carry over the years. The advent of Class D power amps have made a great impact on the weight of the cases. My current amp, a Class D power amp and tube pre-amp I built to drive it in a four space SKB case I can lift with just two fingers. Back in the early Eighties I built a rack case out of 3/4" ply and covered it with carpet. It held a 200W per channel dual mono power amp, two power transformers, a one space pre-amp and another one space unit that held a LED power meter monitoring the output of the amp It's other function was to supply two condenser microphones with Phantom power as our mixer at the time did not have that capability. Over the weekend I moved the power amp section under my work bench to feed the speakers I use for testing the amps I work on. I had forgotten just how heavy that amp was. It was a struggle to position it!! Turned on it sounded glorious and I was so delighted.
  11. As I said before I'm truly sorry for your troubles. Your amp is a minor thing compared to the rest of your belongings. We're hoping that we would be unaffected by floods a we live basically at the top of a hill. Good luck.
  12. @Nibody I'm sorry for your medical woes. Having lived through two heart attacks, open heart surgery nd three strokes I feel for you. I hope that you re much improved as you read this missive.
  13. So the amp is no longer a Fender Bassman! LOL I withdraw my comment.
  14. Yes I have said it before and I'm not trying to rain on your parade. It's just that the huge disappointment I felt with that Blonde Blackface amp and matching twin twelve was so mind numbing that even today I get the shivers thinking about it. For interest what was done to the amp??
  15. I too was successful using a Bassman head into a slant front Marshall 4x12. That said I still had to push the amp more that I liked.
  16. Worst case stick a microphone in front of the cabinet. I couldn't gig with a Bassman back in the Sixties so you'll need some support unless you just like fuzz bass.
  17. More equipment has been permanently damaged by following advice such as this! Indiscriminate spraying of contact cleaners inside a piece of equipment by someone who has no idea what that person is doing can cause more harm than good. Following agedhorse's sound advice given on February 24 is the only sensible/safe route to follow..
  18. Take single triode section from a 12AX7, cathode is grounded, grid to ground via a very high value resistor. Signal connects through an isolating capacitor. This is a positive bias stage. Looking through schematics you can see this used time and time again. Back in the day tube tape recorders used the scheme to match the high impedance of Chrystal microphones
  19. Keep us informed about developments and good luck.
  20. Doesn't confuse me one bit! Even though it can be variable to ensure correct bias level at set up, once set it doesn't vary so is fixed. Virtually everyone in the amplifier field refers to the arrangement as Fixed Bias. Just noticed you're from Swindon. My Dad's family hailed from Swindon.
  21. Come on Joel tell us what you really think!! LOL
  22. For some reason I have yet to measure the output capabilities of my B15 unit. From the diagram and voltages present it should give at least 45 odd Watts. BTW @JapanAxe the correct term is Fixed Bias and not grid bias.
  23. White noise is a product of all active electronics. Some folk are more sensitive to it than others. Same goes for fan noise. In reality, on stage, neither would be audible.
  24. I have built hundreds of amps over the last sixty years. The Ampeg B15 is a very simple build. You should stick to the circuit exactly and use the 6SL7 octal preamp tubes. They have a certain 'something' that adds to the B15 mystic. I have every thing I need including chassis to build six more amps. As winter progresses I'll make a start on the first. I'm thinking of a B15 clone using a pair of KT66s that I've had in my tube stores for years. Time to put them to good use. I already own a B15NF and whilst reconditioning it I ran into Two problems. After installing new caps I experience flash over in the GZ34/5AR4 rectifier. the cure was to add a fast recovery silicon diode in series with each plate/anode of the GZ34. The second was the 6L6GCs red plating in spite of the negative bias being correct. Cure was replacing the 270KΩ grid bias resistors with 100KΩ as per the RCA tube manual. I feel that the amp is sensitive to the 'new' tubes being produced today. Good luck with the build. It's very rewarding when you step out on stage using equipment that you put together with your own hand!!
  25. Unfortunately it's not as simple as that and you might just make things worse. When disaster strikes if the item is of good quality it's worth putting money into it to promote reliability. Remember that flood water also contains sewage. Yuck!!
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